The United Utah Party announced its opposition to HB 133 and 135 - two bills recently passed by the Utah House of Representatives that make it more difficult for initiatives to get on the state ballot.

"These bills place more burdens on initiative gatherers and make it easier for opposing groups to knock off signatures," said Richard Davis, United Utah Party chair. "Plus they give more time to the legislature to revise or even scuttle initiatives they don't like."

The bills were proposed by Representative Brad Daw (Republican of Orem) and Representative Norm Thurston (Republican of Provo). They passed the House 50-20 and 50-21 respectively.

"The lesson legislators have learned from the passage of Propositions 2, 3, and 4 last year is that the initiative process is too easy and should be made harder,” Davis added. "The lesson they should have learned is they need to be more responsive to what the public wants. That is a lesson they may not ever learn until they get defeated at the polls.

Calling on the State Senate to defeat the bills, the UUP also urged citizens to contact their state senator to express their disapproval before the vote.

“The legislature wants to ignore the voice of the people,” Davis said. “The people need to use their voice to let them know that’s not acceptable."